Tag: Gaza Strip

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Netanyahu nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize as the two meet at White House

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US President Donald Trump he was nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize as the two hailed their recent joint strikes on Iran ‘s nuclear facilities as an unmitigated success.

The pair sat down with their top aides for a dinner in the White House on Monday night, to mark the Iran operation and discuss efforts to push forward with a 60-day ceasefire proposal to pause the 21-month conflict in Gaza.

“He’s forging peace as we speak, one country and one region after the other,” Netanyahu said as he presented Trump with a nominating letter he said he sent the Nobel committee.

The call for the peace prize comes after the Israeli leader for years had pressed Trump and his predecessors to take military action against Iran’s nuclear program.

Trump ordered US forces to drop “bunker-buster” bombs and fire a barrage of Tomahawk missiles on three key Iranian nuclear sites.

It also allowed Netanyahu to further ingratiate himself with Trump, who for years has made little secret of the fact that he covets a Nobel Peace Prize and sees himself as a capable peacemaker.

Netanyahu’s outwardly triumphant visit to the White House, his third this year, was dogged by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and questions over how hard Trump will push for an end to the conflict.

But in an exchange before reporters before the dinner got underway, both leaders expressed optimism that their success in Iran would mark a new era in the Middle East.

“I think things are going to be really settled down a lot in the Middle East,” Trump said. “And, they respect us and they respect Israel.”

Trump says Iran wants to restart talks, but Iran hasn’t confirmed that.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian in an interview published Monday said the U.S. airstrikes so badly damaged his country’s nuclear facilities that Iranian authorities still have not been able to access them to survey the destruction.

The meeting between Trump and Netanyahu may also give new urgency to a US ceasefire proposal being discussed by Israel and Hamas. (ITV)

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Trump says Israel has agreed to conditions for 60-day Gaza ceasefire

Israel has agreed to the “necessary conditions” to finalise a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, US President Donald Trump has said.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that during the proposed ceasefire the US would “work with all parties to end the War”.He did not provide details on what the ceasefire would entail.

“The Qataris and Egyptians, who have worked very hard to help bring Peace, will deliver this final proposal. I hope… that Hamas takes this Deal, because it will not get better — IT WILL ONLY GET WORSE,” Trump wrote.

Israel has not confirmed it agreed to the conditions of a deal. A Hamas official told the BBC the group is “ready and serious” to reach an agreement if it ends the war.

Hamas is “prepared to agree to any proposal if the requirements for ending the war are clearly met or if they lead to its complete end,” said Taher al-Nunu.

Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar posted on X that there is majority support in the government “for a framework to release hostages,” and this opportunity “must not be missed.”

For Israel, the key component of any deal will have to be the release of most, if not all, hostages still being held in Gaza.

Of the 50 or so hostages remaining in captivity, more than 20 are still thought to be alive and their plight has been at the forefront of regular demonstrations in Israel calling for an end to the war.

A recent Israeli newspaper poll suggested that a significant majority of Israelis want the war to end – but polling on Wednesday, from the Israel Democracy Institute, also suggests that most Israelis still don’t trust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or his intentions.

Netanyahu has for months insisted on “complete victory” over Hamas before ending the war. It’s unclear if his position will now change under renewed pressure from Washington – and the answer could be pivotal to reaching a deal.

Trump’s announcement comes before a meeting with Netanyahu scheduled for next week, in which the US president has said he would be “very firm”.

He earlier said that he believed Netanyahu wanted to end hostilities in Gaza. “He wants to. I can tell you he wants to. I think we’ll have a deal next week,” Trump said.

Hamas has already indicated it would be willing to agree to a ceasefire if it led to the end of the war. But without that provision, Hamas negotiators might question the value of releasing all the hostages if the Israeli military is likely to resume bombing Gaza.

Another consideration before an agreement can be signed – perhaps while Netanyahu is in Washington next week – is Hamas’s demand for a partial Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, at least for the duration of the ceasefire.

The international community is also likely to lobby hard for the resumption of full-scale UN-backed aid deliveries into Gaza.

Prior to Trump’s announcement, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon told the BBC Israel was “absolutely” ready for a ceasefire.

Speaking on the BBC News channel, Danon said that Hamas was “playing hardball”.

“We are putting pressure on Hamas, and if they will not come to the table, the only option we will have to bring back the hostages, is to apply more military pressure,” Danon said.

“The war will end when the hostages are back home,” he added.

Last week, a senior Hamas official told the BBC mediators have increased efforts to broker a new ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza, but that negotiations with Israel remain stalled. (BBC)

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Dozens killed as Israeli tanks shell aid crowd in Southern Gaza

The health ministry on Tuesday reported that Israeli tank shellfire killed at least 51 Palestinians as they awaited aid trucks in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

The ministry added that dozens of others were wounded.

According to medics, more than 200 people were wounded, with at least 20 of them in critical condition.

There was no immediate comment by the Israeli military on the incident.

Witnesses said Israeli tanks fired at least two shells at thousands of people awaiting aid trucks.

Nasser Hospital wards were crowded with casualties, and medical workers had to place some on the ground and in corridors due to the lack of space.

The incident was the latest in nearly daily mass deaths of Palestinians who were seeking aid in the past weeks, including near sites operated by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Local health officials said at least 23 people were killed by Israeli gunfire on Monday as they approached a GHF aid distribution site in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

The GHF released a press release on Monday stating that it had distributed more than three million meals at its four distribution sites without incident.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military about Monday’s reports of shootings.

In previous incidents, it has occasionally acknowledged troops opening fire near aid sites while blaming militants for provoking the violence.

Israel has put responsibility for distributing much of the aid it allows into Gaza into the hands of the GHF which operates sites in areas guarded by Israeli troops.

The United Nations has rejected the plan, saying GHF distribution is inadequate, dangerous, and violates humanitarian impartiality principles.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023, when Palestinian Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli allies.

Israel’s subsequent military assault on Gaza has killed nearly 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, while internally displacing nearly Gaza’s entire population and causing a hunger crisis.

The assault has also triggered accusations of genocide at the International Court of Justice and of war crimes at the International Criminal Court.

Israel, however, denies the accusations. (Punch)